Liquid laundry cleaning and treating products are commonly sold in pourable plastic bottles or jugs for household use, and include, for example, liquid detergents, soaps, and fabric softeners. The numbers of such plastic jugs sold in just the United States in a given year is estimated at a billion. The plastic jugs are usually recycled or thrown away, requiring large amounts of energy and/or landfill space. Additionally, consumers pay for a new jug with every purchase of the liquid detergent.
U.S. Pat. No. 8,973,822 to Brown shows a vending machine or “self-service refill station” for refilling a plastic bottle with liquid laundry detergent (or other fluid products) at a store where the original purchase was made.
U.S. Pat. No. 8,070,016 to Kawakami et al show a refill pouch with a nozzle structure designed to pour refills such as detergent, bleach, softening agent, laundry starch, shampoo, conditioner, or the like into a refillable plastic or glass container with a stable flow. The refill pouches are believed to hold a volume of refill material comparable to the volume of the bottle being refilled, as it would be desirable to keep the number of disposable refill pouches to a minimum for the life of the refillable container. The nozzle and pouch structure are also designed to minimize the bulk of the pouch for packing and shipping versus earlier three-dimensional pouch designs. Perishable food refills are also contemplated, as a storability-enhancing laminated film construction is suggested for a seasoning refill pouch.